And councillor Nial Ring has told how Mr Hutch (35) was almost resigned to being shot dead - but didn't want it to happen in front of his seven-year-old son.

The dead man spent 90 minutes with Mr Ring on Monday, discussing his fears and how he wanted to move to a flat that would be more difficult to access.

"He did say to me as he was going out, 'I know the f***ers are going to get me but they are not going to do it in front of my son.' His was almost resigned to it," the Independent councillor said.

Speaking on Independent.ie's 'Floating Voter' podcast, Mr Ring argued that it was unfair for the entire Hutch family to be painted as criminals as most of them were just ordinary people who were now living in terror.

He continued: "The likes of the Hutches and other small-time criminals are being wiped out by the Kinahans. It's an international criminality that I don't think we can grasp the significance or the size of.

"When Enda Kenny talks about it taking years to sort out the Kinahans, he has no idea. You're going up against huge money and a ruthless mentality that we haven't seen (before).

"This is something I don't think people fully understand. This is like people trying to create a state within the State and carry on their business with absolute immunity.

Victim Gareth Hutch

"It's not going to be solved overnight, but Enda saying years and years? These guys will have taken over the north inner-city drugs and criminality within six months unless we stop them now."

Asked if people in the area had sympathy for the Hutch family, Mr Ring said: "When you say 'Hutch', everybody thinks criminality and common decent criminal in the area, but the vast majority of the Hutch family and the vast majority of people in the area are not involved in criminality - they just want to get on with their lives."

Mr Ring said people needed to realise the crisis was being driven by "international terrorism".

"This isn't some sort of family feud being played out. You get the usual, 'Oh let them all shoot each other.' But that's not what's happening here. This is a one-sided massacre."

Describing his final meeting with Gareth Hutch, Mr Ring said Mr Hutch had asked for help to secure another flat in the same complex.

"He was concerned that his back balcony was accessible and it was in an area with no CCTV.

"He just really didn't want anything to happen to him while he was in the flat and his son was with him. Gareth told me that he had direct access to the ERU through the flat. I presume that was some sort of button system or alarm system. I don't believe that the gardaí are capable of providing 24/7 armed protection for anybody."

Since Tuesday's attack, another member of the Hutch family has approached Mr Ring after receiving a warning from gardaí that his life is under threat.

But Mr Ring hit out at the political reaction, saying the 1,000 armed checkpoints in the area "are all optics". He added: "It's the lighthouse in the bog. They are of no use at all."